2016 A Charmed future
by 123me
Summary: Will Amber vanquish her father? Will Richard ever come back? Will life always stay so sweet? CHAPTER 21 UP NOW
1. Chapter 1: Lacey's problem

_**2016 - A Charmed future**_

**Notes: Piper has 3 children – Wyatt (13), Chris (10) and Melinda (8), all with Leo**

**Phoebe has 3 kids – Kayleigh (16) and Amber (15) with Cole and Joshua (4) with Dex**

**Paige has 2 kids – Lacey (9) and Nathan (6) with Richard**

**Prue had 2 daughters before she died – Lizzie (18) With Andy and Rebecca (16) with Jack**

**Prue, Jack and Andy will all appear in this Fic along with Cole and other deceased members of the Halliwell family.**

**Piper has custody of Prue's youngest daughter, Rebecca; Lizzie is 18 but still lives in the manor, as she believes it is rightfully hers.**

**Paige and Richard are not together, Phoebe and Dex are together but not married, Piper and Leo are married.**

**This story was started in 2005, that is why some of the pairings are old, I am going to bring some season 8 characters into it though, including Billie.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own charmed or any of the characters that appeared in it. I do own the characters in this Fic that were not in the series.**

**Chapter 1**

"You sure you can cope Paige?" Piper asked her half-sister.

"Piece of cake how hard can a couple of kids be?" Paige joked.

"A couple would be easy but these are magical children and there's 10 of them" Piper answered.

"Hey im not a kid"Lizzie yelled

"Then stop acting like one" Piper told her niece.

"Mom, Mommy "Said Lacey tugging Paige's trouser leg.

"Piper just go I'll be fine "Paige said squatting to her daughters level.

Piper unsurely walked out the door.

"Yes Honey" Paige said.  
"I don't want to go out today"Lacey told her mother.

"Sorry honey, but you have to, it's daddy's day to have you" Paige explained.

"I don't like daddy" Lacey answered and walked off.

"Whoa, serious problem in the kid department upstairs" Said Amber walking into the conservatory.

'Problem' Paige thought and ran up the stairs.

Upstairs in piper's room Melinda was playing with Piper's make-up Wyatt and Chris were jumping on the bed behind her and Nathan was drawing on the radiator.

Paige picked up the phone and dialled.

"Phoebes I know your working and all but..."Paige said when the phone was answered.

"Just finished actually" Phoebe interrupted.  
"How's Piper?" She added.

"Piper's just gone out actually but if she comes home to this she won't be Ok" Paige said.

"The kids?" phoebe asked.  
"Yeah"Paige told her.

"ok im on my way, I'll be about 20 minutes but please Paige for once, get Kayleigh to help, I know you don't believe in it and all but she loves to help" phoebe told her younger sister.

"Ok"Paige said hanging up.  
"KAYLEIGH"she yelled.

The teen walked in the room, replicating her moms attitude and walk almost perfectly.

"Trouble in paradise"Kayleigh giggled, taking Melinda's hand and pulling her up.

"Hey Chip and Dale sit down" Paige said to Wyatt and Chris. They jumped down.  
"Kay, can you round up the troops get them all in here?" Paige asked.

"Yeh sure"Kayleigh replied handing Melinda to Paige and leaving the room.

Paige sat Melinda down and within Minutes the other kids were all sitting on the bed.

"Lizzie put that down for a sec,"Paige told her.  
Lizzie reluctantly put her magazine down.

Paige heard the front door open.

"Hey Guys, Paige, hello I beat the traffic" Came Phoebe's voice.  
"Up here phoebes" Paige called.

Phoebe rushed up the stairs.

"Paige what did you do, their quiet" Phoebe exclaimed looking at the kids in disbelief.

"Awwww hey Honey" Phoebe cooed looking at Joshua.  
"It was Kayleigh actually," Paige said.

"Really, well done Kay" She answered still cooing Joshua.

"Aunt Phoebe, Wyatt was picking on me again" Melinda tattled desperate for her aunts' attention.

Phoebe put Joshua down.

"Wyatt Matthew what have we told you" She said now stern.

"I DIDN'T" Wyatt yelled.

"You did now," Melinda said smiling.

"I take it that this was one of your stories Melinda "Phoebe said.

Melinda started giggling and froze a bird as it flew past the window.

"Mom, is she meant to do that?"Kayleigh asked Phoebe.

"No she's not, unfreeze the birdie Melinda" Phoebe said.

Melinda unfroze the bird.  
In a swirl of blue lights Leo appeared.

"Daddy" Melinda gushed jumping up and running to her dad.

"Hi sweetheart, I need to talk to your aunties for a little bit ok"He cooed his daughter.

"Is everything ok dad?" Wyatt asked.

"Fine Wyatt, absolutely fine" Leo replied.

"Then why can't we hear?" Wyatt asked.

"Never you mind Wyatt Matthew," Said a voice.

"Grams" phoebe said.

"Yes dear" Penny said as she materialised.

"What is it Christopher dear? "She asked.

"Nothing" he answered to his great-grandmother.

"Then why conjure me?" She asked.

"Felt like it," He told her.

The doorbell rang.

"Wonder who that is?" phoebe asked.

"I'll get it" Paige said not wanting to witness Leo's words to his younger son.

Paige left the room, followed by Lacey.

"Mom, I've got something to tell you" Lacey said.

"What is it kiddo?"Paige said as she opened the door.

"Richard, hi"Paige said.

Richard looked straight at Lacey.

"You ready honey?" He asked her.

"I suppose," Lacey answered.

"I'll go and get Nathan" Paige said heading upstairs.

Lacey stared at her father for all of 10 seconds before speaking.

"I don't know why you bother coming you know, not as if you care about us or anything" She snapped.

"Lacey, I know you love your Mom and all..."Richard began.

"You used too aswell, but you abandoned her, you abandoned Ok" Lacey interrupted.

A car pulled up and Piper ran up the steps, she edged through the door and was about to run upstairs when she saw Lacey with Richard.  
"Not told her yet honey?" Piper asked Lacey.

"I've tried but she won't listen"Lacey answered.

"She just says I have too," She added.

"I'll talk to her tonight ok sweetie" Piper said walking over and hugging her niece.

"I'll see you tomorrow" She said.

She glanced up at Richard.

"Morning, 10am sharp" She said sternly.

"I have them till tomorrow afternoon at 5"Richard told her.

"Well nobody's going to be here tomorrow at 5, im taking the girls out at 10.30am, Phoebe's got work, Paige is going to be round her friends and Leo's taking the boys to see, well that's none of your business the point is nobody will be here so 10am sharp" Piper snapped.

She looked at Lacey.  
"I'll talk to her, don't worry, and if you haven't left by 9.30 tomorrow morning, you call me ok, you know my number and you've got your cell phone.

Lacey nodded as Paige came down the stairs with Nathan.

"Seeya tomorrow kids" Paige said handing Nathan to Richard.

"Piper, what are you doing here?" She asked.

"I forgot the books," She answered as she and Richard gave eachother evil looks.  
Kayleigh ran downstairs.

"Wait "She said running to the door." Mom told me to tell you Lacey; she'll take you shopping on Monday after school"

"Ok"Lacey said.

"Bye"Kayleigh said.

"Remember what I said sweetie" Piper told Lacey.

"I will, and Mom, you remember what I said," Lacey shouted.

"Yes I will, we'll talk tomorrow night" Paige promised her daughter as she closed the door.

"Speaking of talking, I need a word Paige" Piper said.


	2. Chapter 2: Sisterly chat

Chapter 2 

Piper took Paige into the sitting room as noise erupted from the quiet upstairs.

"What's up sis?" Paige asked.

"It's Lacey"Piper said.

"What about her?" Paige asked.

"She's only a kid Paige, you're meant to be able to tell how she's feeling" Piper began.

"No that's phoebe's power" Paige interrupted jokily.

"You know what I mean, anyway, you know how she feels about Richard, she hates him, she doesn't want to be dragged around the town by him every other Saturday, can't you tell she doesn't want to go" Piper finished.

"I can tell, but there's nothing I can do about it anymore, I can't use magic and the only other way is through the legal systems and I don't want to drag them through that" Paige resigned.

"I know you don't want to drag them through it but she's got to have a reason for hating him, the guy's bad news Paige, you could be putting them in danger, he didn't want to know them until last year he left when Lacey was 4 and Nathan was 1 and he didn't want top know until her found out that Lacey single-handedly vanquished that demon" Piper pointed out.

"Piper, we didn't tell you because we thought you'd be mad," Paige said.  
"Didn't tell me what?" Piper asked.

"Well Leo doesn't know either, but Lacey didn't vanquish that demon alone, Chris was there, he helped her" Paige told her sister.

"Paige I was mad enough when i found out you'd let Lacey go up against a demon, but it wasn't just her, you risked 2 of our families lives" Piper said in disbelief.

Phoebe ran in.

"Keep it down I just got Josh to sleep" She moaned.  
Phoebe studied her sister's faces.

"Paige did you tell her?" She asked.

"You knew aswell"Piper huffed.

"Well yeah, we told them to get out the way and let us deal with it but they were so determined" Phoebe answered.

"Are you mad?" Paige asked.

"No Paige I am way past mad, you endangered one of my children" Piper fumed.  
"You were fine with it when it was just Lacey"Phoebe pointed out.  
"Frankly Phoebe, I wasn't I just didn't show it" Piper told her sister. 


	3. Chapter 3: Wyatt's help

**Chapter 3**

Rebecca ran in the room.  
"Howdy, what's up?" She asked.  
"Nothing for you to worry about" Paige answered.  
"Who said I was gonna worry about it just came to tell you that I've gotta go, dad's here" Rebecca answered.  
"Ok, off you go" Piper said.  
As soon as Rebecca left the room the argument started again.  
"They're only kids guys" Piper pointed.  
"We do know we're not stupid" Paige snidely answered.  
They were too busy fighting to realise Wyatt had walked in.  
He yelled to be heard over them "Shut up we're family we're meant to get on"  
"Wyatt, honey, its not that bad, honestly, we can sort it" Phoebe said calmly looking at her nephew.  
"Well it's going to have to wait, we were just attacked, dad's fending it off" Wyatt answered as the other kids appeared behind him.  
They ran up the stairs unknown to them at the time, being followed by Wyatt.

Wyatt ran into the room where his parents and aunts were. Paige spotted him almost instantly.  
"Wyatt, get outta here" She shouted to him.  
An energy ball flew through the air towards Wyatt.  
He put his force field up just in time and tossed a vial at one of the demons.  
The demon exploded and the other shimmered out. Piper glared at her son, who was standing innocently in the door.  
"Wyatt where did you get that?" She asked.  
"The potion?" He questioned.  
"Yes" Piper answered.  
"Off Amber, she's got loads of them, it explodes everything, even people, she says it's her revenge" Wyatt explained and walked off.


	4. Chapter 4: Telling the truth

**Chapter 4**

Piper looked at Phoebe.  
"I think you need to talk to your daughter," She said to her.  
"I know, she's just so hard to talk to and your lucky, none of your kids are half-demon" Phoebe answered.  
"Yeah I know Amber and Kayleigh are half-demon and all but Kayleigh's a good kid, she doesn't use her demonic powers even though the demons all try to get her too, but Amber does use them, Amber's bad, she's almost evil, if you don't talk to her soon she's gonna end up like her father" Paige pointed out.  
"Thanks for the assessment Paige" Phoebe answered sarcastically.  
"Hey, Ambers making some potion and is threatening Melinda about telling"Lizzie said walking past the door.  
Piper and Paige looked at Phoebe.  
"Your kid, you stop her" Piper said.  
Phoebe nodded and left the room.  
"Do you think we were a bit hard on her?" Paige asked.  
"It had to be done, don't worry about it, you worry about Lacey and Nathan" Piper answered following Phoebe.  
"Gee thanks" Paige said following Piper.


	5. Chapter 5: Trying to talk

Chapter 5 

Phoebe walked into the kitchen and sees amber filling up some vials with a purple liquid and Melinda sat hunched in a corner.

She walked up to Melinda and tells her that her mummy is up stairs and she wants to talk to her about daddy's birthday present. Melinda leaves.

"Now amber" phoebe began,

"Oh cut the talk I don't care what your going to say anyway" amber said with an attitude.

" Let me finish what I am going to say, I am your mother and I deserve some respect" phoebe snapped sternly.

The phone rang and amber said "are you gonna get that"

"Nice try but there are 8 other people in this house one of them is sure to get it" phoebe snapped.

"Oh Yeh josh is sure to pick up the phone" amber said sarcastically.

"That's enough of your cheek missy, just hand over all the potions you have made and ill go" phoebe exclaimed."

"Well your gonna have a long wait,coz I gave some to Rebecca" amber said.

"Well give me all the ones that you've and I'll get the other ones of Rebecca later" phoebe demanded,

"Well no sorry you can't have them" amber said with her evil attitude.

" Do you want to turn out like your father" phoebe shouted.

"Yeh apart from one thing your not gonna kill me" amber exclaimed,  
" Is that what you think, you think I had a choice" phoebe asked.  
" well duh, you didn't have to kill him, and unlike Lizzie and Rebecca, I can't even conjure my dad, its not fair they can conjure their mom" Amber gloomed.  
To that phoebe replied, "well their mom wasn't evil",  
"well it wasn't my fault that you decided to marry and sleep with a demon" amber snarled.  
" Oh for god sake amber now that's not fair, I didn't know he was a demon until it was to late" phoebe began  
"well you did know when you married him" amber quickly answered back.  
"No I didn't and when I found out he was a demon I immediately did something about it" phoebe shouted, then she stormed out of the kitchen in anger.  
"Didn't go to well with Amber then?" Piper asked when she saw her.  
"I can't get through to her, you know what why don't you try you seem to want to sooo much"  
She stormed upstairs ignoring Wyatt as he called " Aunt phoebe, Aunt Phoebe what's going on" 


	6. Chapter 6: how the battle began

Chapter 6 

The next day Phoebe got up late and trudged slowly downstairs.

"Mommy" Joshua called in excitement when he saw her.

She scooped him up as Kayleigh came out of the sitting room.

"You ok Mom?" The teen asked.

"Yeh I suppose so" Phoebe answered.

"Well I've got to tell you something, its like deadly serious but I couldn't tell you earlier because Aunt Piper wouldn't let me wake you"Kayleigh explained.

"What is it?" Phoebe asked her eldest child.

Kayleigh glanced at Joshua.

"I don't think he should hear," She said.

"Is Dex still here? "Phoebe asked.

"Yeah, it's his day off"kayleigh answered.

Phoebe put Joshua down and said "Joshie can you go and see Daddy for a while"  
The boy nodded and walked off towards the conservatory.

"It must be bad, what's up kiddo?"Phoebe asked Kayleigh.

"Amber went out last night and she well she never came back, Piper and Paige are out looking for her now, and well, they left Lizzie in charge of us, do you think they'll find her, what if she's in the underworld, what if the demons got her"kayleigh rambled.

"Kay, your sister's stupid, she's stubborn and badly behaved, she's like her father, but you your nothing like him and it's that Kayleigh, that makes us all so proud if you, but there's one thing about my sisters that I don't understand about my sisters" phoebe answered.

"What?" Kayleigh asked.

"What they were thinking when they left Lizzie in charge Dex is here shouldn't he have been left in charge" Phoebe joked.

"Dex doesn't have magic and Lizzie does, apparently she has a better chance of controlling us"kayleigh replied.

The front door opened.

"Should we scry for her?" Paige asked walking in.  
"No if she's in the underworld we won't get her" piper replied following. Neither had seen Phoebe and Kayleigh yet.  
"Nothing that?" Kayleigh asked.  
Piper and Paige looked up and saw phoebe and Kayleigh.  
"Uh, phoebes, you ok?"Piper asked.  
"Yes why wouldn't I be?" was phoebe's answer.  
"We just don't want you getting mad at us again like last night" Piper said softly.  
"Hey she weren't mad at me sister, she was mad at you" Paige chimed in.  
"Hey it's 10, shouldn't we be getting ready to you" Kayleigh said changing the subject.

"Got to wait for Lacey and Nathan" Piper answered Kayleigh.

"Hey you changed their times, nice one" Paige said.

"Only for today" Piper told Paige.

The phone rand and Paige, who was nearest, picked it up.

"Hello, Paige Matthews"

"Mom, I wanna come home"

"Wanna come your meant to be here"

"I know, he won't listen, he says we're staying till 5 as usual"

"Your not staying till 5, um don't leave the house, piper is coming to get you"  
"Ok mom, thanks bye"

"Bye sweetie"

"Who was it?" piper asked when Paige put the phone down.

"Lacey, Richard won't let them go, you don't mind fetching them do you?" Paige replied.

"Of course not. I'll take all the girls, and phoebe don't worry about Amber we'll find her" Piper said.  
Phoebe glared at her sisters before Dex came out of the conservatory with Nathan.

"Hey, Nathan said you were up" he said walking over to Phoebe.  
"Hi, yeah im up, only just though" Phoebe replied.

5 minutes later Piper and all the girls had gone to get Lacey and Nathan.  
"When did bex get back?" Phoebe asked Paige.

They were now in the sitting room.

"About 10, I told Jack that we don't like them out that late though" Paige answered.

"You didn't tell him why did you?" phoebe asked nearly panicking.  
"Of course not, im not that stupid, you can't exactly say to a guy, hey we don't like your daughter out that late incase a demon attacks you" Paige remarked.  
At that Phoebe let out a laugh.

"What?" Paige asked.  
"The look on his face if we did tell him" phoebe giggled.  
Paige shook her head as Leo orbed in.  
"I'm only here for the boys" he explained.  
"All of them or just Wyatt and Chris?" Paige asked.  
"All of them, its planned" Leo told her.  
"Piper's picking up Nathan from Richard's because he refused to bring them back" Paige told him.  
"Why didn't they orb back?" Leo asked.  
"Lacey doesn't like to use her powers in front of Richard" Paige explained.  
"Ok I'll go round up the others then" Leo said as he orbed out.


	7. Chapter 7: Paige's nightmare

Chapter 7 

"It's quiet without the kids here," Paige said after Leo had left.

"I know, but im afraid it's about to get even quieter for you Hon cos I've gotta go" Phoebe replied.

"Where to?" Paige asked.

"Work, I was late yesterday, Elise will go berserk if im late again" phoebe explained.

"You did get up kinda late today and its 10.30 now your already late, an hour and a half late" Paige told her sister.

"I don't have to be in till 12 today, I done half of today's column yesterday because I finished, im gonna go in early because I was late yesterday" Phoebe reasoned.

"Ok, oh yeah missy, don't forget we're on baby-sitting duty tonight" Paige said.

"Yeah I know their going out at 6.30, I can be here by 6 earliest" phoebe chirped walking out the door.

"God it's quiet" Paige said when phoebe left.  
Lacey orbed in.  
Shock hit Paige when she saw the state of her daughter.  
"What happened sweetie?" she asked.  
" It was dad, when auntie Piper turned up he went mental, he hit me, and I was so scared, their still there, mom what's he going to do to Nathan" Lacey sobbed.  
"Ok orb now talk later" Paige said grabbing Lacey by the hand and orbing.

At Richards the battle was just beginning. All the girls were running around everywhere. Lizzie was telekinetically flinging Richard away from the kids every time he approached them.

"Leave us alone" she yelled.

Piper was holding Nathan to her.

" I'll see to it that you never see these children again," She screamed at Richard.  
"How you gonna do that?" he sneered" Paige is to stupid to go through a court case"

That made piper laugh, he hadn't seen Paige and Lacey orb in behind him.  
"Oh so my mom's stupid now" Lacey shouted.

Richard turned round in surprise.

"Lacey, where did you go?" he asked.

Then he saw Paige.

"You got her didn't you" He scowled.

"Did you hit her?" Paige asked.

Richard didn't answer.

Paige looked at Piper.

"Did he hit her?" she asked.

Piper nodded.

"I told you he's dangerous," She told her younger half-sister.

"I wish I'd listened" Paige replied.

She took Lacey's hand and ran over to Piper and Nathan.

"Hey lil guy, did he hurt you to?" Paige asked her son.

The little boy started crying.

"He did mom," Lacey answered for her brother.

"No I didn't you little liar" Richard yelled at Lacey.

"Don't you dare speak to her, you've lost the right to speak to them now" Paige almost screamed.

"They are my children and I'll do what I want to them" Richard replied.  
"Not anymore, your not going near them" Piper snapped at him.  
"Seeya in court" Paige said beckoning all the girls towards her and Lacey.  
Piper put her arm around Paige and said "homeward bound sis?"  
Paige nodded and making sure she had all the kids with her, she orbed.


	8. Chapter 8: Nathans revelation

**Chapter 8**

They had only been back at the manor for mere minutes when Paige started to panic.

"What have I done, I can't go through with a court battle, I can't put them through that" She moaned.

"Calm down, it's gonna be ok" Piper attempted to comfort her sister.

"How can you say that, you don't know that, god I can't put them through it" Paige rushed, hinting fear in her voice.

Lizzie was quick to usher the younger kids out of the room after a look from Piper.

Nathan looked scared and Lizzie was surprised that Paige had not noticed the boy looked like he'd had a close brush with Barbas.

As Piper continued to try and comfort Paige, with little success, Lizzie knelt down to the Childs level.

"What happened back there Nath?" She asked.

"Daddy hit Lacey" Nathan sobbed.

"Yeah sweetie I was there, I mean before that"Lizzie hugged the child.

"Lacey said auntie Piper said we had to be home and daddy said no" Nathan spoke as he glared at his cousin.

"Did daddy hurt you?"Lizzie asked.

Nathan nodded as Lacey came from the other room to see what had happened to her brother.

Nathan followed Lacey as soon as he saw her, Lizzie new Lacey would be protective of her brother now.

Lizzie got up and went back into the now silent sitting room where Piper was sitting with her arm around Paige.

"Nathan said Richard hurt him," She announced.

"I didn't see that Liz" Piper answered.

"I asked Nathan if Richard hurt him and he nodded" Lizzie replied.

She could tell by the look on Pipers face that her words had affected her aunt, Paige was yet to look up but was no longer sniffing.

"Thanks Liz" Piper answered "Go keep and eye on them Hon" She added.

Lizzie nodded and left the room. 


	9. Chapter 9: groveling, Part 1

Chapter 9 

"MOM" Lacey's voice rang clear as day throughout the whole manor.

Paige opened her eyes at her daughters shout, she hadn't even realised she had fallen asleep; the events of the previous day must have exhausted her.

"MOMMY"Lacey called again, louder this time.

Paige stood and followed her daughters voice into the hallway to where her daughter was standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"What is it sweetie?" Paige yawned.

"Dads at the door, I saw out the upstairs window, and Amber came back, you should heard Aunt Piper yell" Lacey said cheerily, except the part about her father which sounded rather gloomy.

"Go back upstairs Hon, I'll sort it, go play with Melinda" Paige answered, eager to get her daughter out of Richard's sight.

"Mom I'm 9, I don't play any more, I hang out" Lacey giggled running upstairs.

"Nice to know" Paige called after her as she opened the door.

"Paige, we need to talk" Richard said when she opened the door.

"I think we've said everything that needs to be said" Paige answered.

"Paige, I lost my temper with Lacey yesterday and I know I shouldn't have done that, but she was blaming me for everything, the divorce, losing the house, everything" He tried explaining.

"Your the one that left Richard, if you hadn't things may have been different now, but the way she see's it you abandoned us, she'll always resent you for that, she see's you as the person that hurt her mom, it's too late for you to change that now" Paige spoke to him.

"I know I left and I know I wrecked everything we had but please, don't take this to court" Richard begged.

"I don't want to but Lacey doesn't want to see you any more, she told Piper and Phoebe's mentioned it too as well as Kayleigh, I have to respect what she wants, and Nathan's too young to decide but I'm not sending him alone" Paige rushed nervously.

Lacey made her way down the stairs and stopped on the bottom step.

Richard looked at her for a while, causing Paige to turn around.

"Sweetie, you Ok" Paige asked.

"How did HE know we were here?"Lacey asked still glaring at her father.

"When you weren't at home I figured you'd be here" He answered his child's question.

Lacey nodded and walked over to Paige.  
"You can't fix it now" She remarked to her father before trying to pull her Mother back to shut the door.


	10. Chapter 10: groveling, Part 2

Chapter 10 

"Lacey" Richard said looking at his child.

He had never seen her trying to physically move Paige away from him, he'd never been around though, and he now knew how protective his daughter was of those she called family.

"I don't want to hear your voice dad" Lacey answered carelessly.

"I know I made mistakes, but all mistakes can be sorted in one way or another" Richard tried telling his child.

"That's not what Aunt Piper says," Lacey snapped in answer.

"She doesn't understand Lacey, she's never had to face losing her family" Richard begged.

"Yes she has" Paige cut in "When Wyatt was younger demons always used to try and take him, and she nearly lost Leo to the elders, and then the Avatars"

"But she didn't, and I'm on the verge of losing everything" Richard replied quietly.

Lacey and Paige stayed quiet, he was right, Piper nearly lost Wyatt and Leo, but she didn't, she did lose adult Chris, but she had Child Chris now.

"You already lost us," Paige finally said so quietly that both Lacey and Richard barely heard. "When you left us, you lost us, 5 years ago you lost us"

"Don't say that," Richard gasped. "Say anything but that"

"You should go, I don't want the kids seeing you like this" Paige said stepping back and closing the door.

"Do you think he means it?" Lacey asked as they walked upstairs.

"I don't know Lace, he changes his mind daily" Was Paige's answer.

Amber ran past them on her way down the stairs, nearly knocking them flying.  
"Where you going Ambie?" Paige asked.

"Aunt Paige, don't call me that," Amber answered.

Paige smiled, she knew Piper and Phoebe had their problems with Amber, and the kid was troubled, she did resent Phoebe for vanquishing her dad, but she wasn't evil, no Halliwell could be evil.

"What?" Amber asked, noticing Paige smiling at her.

"Go easy on your Mom, kid, she doesn't hate you, no matter what you think" Paige told Amber.

Amber nodded and turned round as Paige turned and continued up the stairs, noticing for the first time that Lacey had gone on without her.

"Aunt Paige" Came Amber's voice from behind her.

"Yeah" Paige answered stopping again.

"Do you think I should go see Mom and work?" Amber asked.

"I think she'd like that," Paige told her niece.

Phoebe sighed, looking down at the pile of unanswered letters on her desk. She had rushed out the house that morning, partly to avoid Piper's lectures but mainly because she was dreading another confrontation with Amber, How were she and Dex going to cope when the building work on their house was completed and they moved out of the manor, away from Piper's help. She felt a little guilty that she relied on Piper's help, but what was keeping her mind off of work right now was the feeling that she had abandoned her kids on her sisters. Kayleigh and Josh couldn't be blamed for Amber's behaviour, and despite everything, Phoebe didn't believe any of it was Amber's fault either.

"Phoebe" Said a voice from the door, snapping her out of her reverie.  
"What is it?" Phoebe asked her assistant, Sophie, in a tone more harsh than she meant.

"Your daughter's here" She was told.

"She didn't say she was coming, but then I didn't really give her a chance this morning I was out so fast" Phoebe said, now calmer.

"Her hair's darker than I remember, must have been at least a year since I last saw her" Sophie put in.

"You see Kayleigh a lot, she always drops by" Phoebe pointed out, a little confused.

"Sorry, I should have mentioned, it's Amber, not Kayleigh"Sophie told her.

Amber, what could Amber want, she never came to the paper.

"Send her in" Phoebe said in a faked confident tone.

Seconds later Amber walked in.

"Mom, I'm sorry I ran off," She said almost immediately.

Phoebe was taken by surprise at her daughter's apology.

"Your back now, your ok, that's all the matters, though you do realise how dangerous running off was, right?" Phoebe replied.

Amber nodded.

"You can sit down you know" Phoebe smiled.

Amber sat, she didn't understand why her mom was being so forgiving with her, when she wasn't with her father, but the next bit was sure to make her mad.

"Mom" Amber said reaching into her pocket. "I did something bad"

Phoebe looked up at her daughter who was now holding out 3 vials of the purple liquid for her to take.


	11. Chapter 11: Phoebe's nasty surprise

Chapter 11 

Phoebe looked at her daughter for a while before taking the vials.

"Where are the others?" She asked putting on a stern voice.

"I, um, I used them" Amber answered.

"As long as you were only exploding demons" Phoebe half questioned.

"They do more than that, they resurrect the dead, mom, that's why I made them, to get dad back, the exploding thing was chance" Amber explained, trying not to be upset my her moms change in attitude.

"Amber, tell me you didn't" Phoebe said to her daughter.

Amber nodded.

"Did it work?" Phoebe asked.

Once again Amber nodded.

"Have you told anyone else about this?" Phoebe asked.

"No, I was gonna go to the mausoleum I heard you tell Kayleigh about but Aunt Paige asked where I was going, I was sure she'd twig but she didn't, she just said you don't hate me" Amber answered.

"Do you know where he is now?" Phoebe asked, sensing how scared her daughter was.

"The mausoleum I guess" Amber answered.

"Come on then" Phoebe said getting up and grabbing her keys.

"What?" Amber asked, clearly alarmed.

"We can't leave your demon father roaming around, don't feel guilty for telling me Amber, you did the right thing" Phoebe had recaptured her calm persona.  
Amber gave a weak smile and followed Phoebe out of the office.

"Phoebe where are you going?" Elise asked in an annoyed tone as she saw the 2 of them exit Phoebe's office.

"Emergency Elise, I'll e-mail in the column" Phoebe answered without stopping.

"What is with her this week?" Elise asked Sophie.

"I haven't noticed any change, not before her daughter got here anyway" Sophie answered.

"That was her daughter, wasn't her hair lighter, and I swear she was taller" Elise questioned.

"Your thinking of Kayleigh, that's Amber" Sophie explained. 

There it was, the mausoleum, Phoebe hadn't been here in years, and now she was here, here with her daughter, one of the children she now devoted her life to protecting, something didn't feel right, Why had Amber's behaviour changed?, Why would Cole come here? Phoebe shook these thoughts from her head, she had to trust Amber. The two of them walked towards it together and Phoebe suddenly felt herself extending her right hand to open the door.

The door swung open and they slowly walked down the steps, Phoebe wasn't sure Cole would even be here, maybe Amber's spell hadn't worked, but even as she thought it she knew it was ridiculous, Amber was too powerful to fail. As she turned the first corner she saw him, it was unmistakably him.

"Dad?" Amber asked as she appeared behind Phoebe.

Cole looked up, surprised by Phoebe's presence.

"Phoebe" He rasped.

"Dad" Amber repeated.

"Phoebe who's she?" Cole asked.

"You hadn't seen him yet?" Phoebe asked.

Amber shook her head, upset that her father didn't recognise her.

"Phoebe who is she?" Cole repeated.

"Cole, that's Amber" Phoebe finally answered him.

"Amber" He gasped. "Our Amber?"

"My Amber" Phoebe corrected.

"Dad you look so weak" Amber told him.

"How am I here?" he asked.

"Amber here thought it'd be a great idea to resurrect you, strangely enough, I didn't agree" Phoebe explained.

"UNCLE LEO" Amber yelled.

"You don't have to say Uncle Leo to call him that way," Phoebe told Amber as Leo orbed in.

"What is..."he began, stopping when he saw Cole.

"You can't tell Aunt Piper, please," Amber begged.

Phoebe looked at the fear in her daughter's eyes, was Piper really that intimidating, it didn't matter; Phoebe knew they'd have to tell Piper and Paige everything.

"Orb us to the manor Leo, all of us, we can't leave him here for anyone to find" Phoebe told an obviously still shocked Leo. 


	12. Chapter 12: Arriving for all things good

Chapter 12 

As Leo orbed into the kitchen, he knew they couldn't delay the inevitable.

"Amber, out," Phoebe ordered her daughter.

It wasn't until Amber left the room that Leo noticed that Kayleigh was also in the kitchen with Piper watching from a distance.

"Kay can you go and check on Josh for us, Dex is out" Leo suggested.

"If you want me to go, you don't have to lie about it, I know Dex is here I've just seen him" Kayleigh replied with a hint of rebellion.

"Kayleigh" Phoebe warned.

Kayleigh shook her head and walked out the room.

Phoebe and Leo were both surprised that Piper had stayed quiet for this long, as she had obviously noticed that Cole was there.

"Lets just get one thing straight, he is not, under any circumstances, staying for dinner" Piper stated.

Phoebe was stunned by Pipers joke, which in any other situation would probably have been funny.

Piper had obviously noticed Phoebe's confusion as she said

"I wasn't joking, Phoebe, he's not staying, and how did this happen anyway?"  
"What's up, Kay said there was an emergen... How the hell did he get

Back?" Paige exclaimed as she entered the room." I thought we'd vanquished him already, how many times was it, three?"

"Five actually if you include the times with Prue, and as to how this happened, phoebe was just about to explain that to us" Piper pointed out.

"Ha, classic, Mom is so gonna freak!" Came a voice from the door.

Everyone turned to look at the door.

"Lizzie, what do you mean?" Paige asked her.

"Mom and Dad their upstairs in the attic, I thought you'd conjured them" Lizzie explained.

"Prue's here?" Phoebe asked.

"That's what I said isn't it, god, for a charmed one you sure can be thick" Lizzie replied snidely.

"Enough of the cheek Missy" Piper verbally scolded the teen.

"Yeah, enough, but don't you think she's a bit too old for you to be calling her

missy?" Prue asked entering the room.

"Lizzie said Andy's here to" Piper pointed out.

"He's upstairs, keeping out of sight, we're not sure how Dex would take the whole, they're dead but they're here thing" Prue explained.

Phoebe glanced over at Paige to see her staring out of the window.  
"Paige, you ok" He asked.

Paige nodded without turning round, she could sense all eyes in the room on her.  
"So, your kid resurrected her demon father" Prue was grinning.

"What's so great about that?" Phoebe asked.

"She is so like you it is unbelievable," Prue laughed.

She then seemed to acknowledge Cole's presence for the first time.

"Did you enjoy death the first time? I found it to be a great release, but yours may have been different" Prue remarked.

"Still as over-bearing in death as you were in life I see" Cole answered.

Piper looked over to the window to see that Paige had turned but was still mute.  
"Cole, this house, it's mine, don't speak in it" Piper said harshly.

Piper noticed that Phoebe kept glancing nervously at Paige.

"Hey, Paige did you forget how to speak again?" Piper asked jokily.

Paige shook her head.

Prue looked at the sister she had never known.

"I never thought a member of our family would master silence" Prue added, trying to lighten the mood.

"Damn it Billie, gotta go" Paige finally spoke.

Paige orbed out.

"Ok, that was screwed up" Phoebe pointed out.

"Do you think Billie actually called?" Piper asked.

"Probably, you know she always calls at odd times, maybe she could sense Paige wanted an out" Phoebe said.

"So, she has a problem with me?" prue half-asked.

"More with us than you" phoebe answered.

Prue looked confused.

"For the first few years we knew her she nearly always constantly thought we were comparing her to you" Phoebe explained.

"Actually her exact words were, you wanted her to be Prue and she didn't know how," Leo corrected.

"Why thank you smart ass" Piper smiled.

"Piper this isn't funny, she doesn't still think that does she?" phoebe questioned.

"Well, no not as far as I'm aware" Leo stated

"So, you were making her feel as though she couldn't be as good a witch as I am" Prue demanded.

"Well, not exactly, we didn't mean to make her feel as though she'll never do enough, well, it was just the fact that when we found out about her you had just died and we were still mourning" Phoebe explained.

"Well that's not a good enough excuse, you made her feel like an outsider, no wonder she was quiet when I came down here, what would Grams say?" Prue snapped. "Also didn't Grams always say that families should always stick together?"

"Yeh" Piper answered. "It was more me than Phoebe though"

"I expected more than that from you due to the fact that you were the one that was always trying to make me and Phoebe get along, and how come I've never met her before anyway?" Prue demanded.

"We kinda asked the girls not to summon you when she's here, she's kinda, sensitive" Phoebe attempted to explain.

"Well we can't worry about that now, we have him to deal with and I'll talk to the two of you about this later, I'm guessing I was sent to help" Prue stated. "Leo, go find Paige, we're gonna need her".


	13. Chapter 13: Past Pain

Chapter 13 

"This is great, bye bye lectures on family values," Lizzie giggled from the door.

"What?" Piper asked half-annoyed.

"You can't lecture me on things I know you didn't do, you can't say that I have to stick by Rebecca when you couldn't stick by your own sister"Lizzie pointed out.

"She has a point, but Lizzie I said later," Prue said hastily.

"Whatever" Lizzie said leaving the room and waving her hand.

The kitchen door closed behind her.

"Phoebe, the book of shadows" Prue ordered.

"Who put you in charge?" A now irritated Phoebe asked.

"I put myself in charge I am the eldest here" Prue answered.

"You don't count, your dead" Phoebe argued.

"Dead yes, but not gone" Prue said to her sister." Book, now"

Phoebe sighed and left the room.

"I see she hasn't grown up, strange, from up there it looked like she had" Prue said to Piper.

"She has grown up, a lot, I think Cole being back is getting to her, she was like this when she was with him and it's worse this time, she has the kids to worry about, Amber's hard to deal with" Piper explained.

"No she's not" Paige defensively said as she orbed in. "Who sent Leo after me?"  
"I did" Prue answered.

"Right, well do you really need me, Billie has some purple potion thing that's kind of self-exploding" Paige tried to excuse herself.

"Did she get it off Amber?" Piper asked the same time Prue stated "yes, we do need you here"

"I don't know that's why I need to..."Paige began in an attempt to answer Piper's question.

"CHRIS DO NOT THROW THE BOOK OF SHADOWS AT YOUR SISTER, DON'T THROW ANYTHING AT YOUR SISTER" Phoebe shouted from upstairs.

"I better go sort that," Piper said leaving the kitchen and heading for the stairs.  
"So, you always been this shy?" Prue asked Paige.

"I'm not shy, what do you need me for?" Paige asked.

"I'm gonna need the potion ingredients quick when Phoebe gets back with that book, you can orb them to me" Prue simply answered.

Paige nodded, it was obvious she didn't think that her staying was that important.  
"I'm not better than you Paige" Prue attempted to start a conversation, Paige seemed like a nervous child more than a fully-grown woman.

"I never said you were" Paige replied trying to give an indifferent attitude.

"I know it's just..." Prue began, she didn't know how to act around her half-sister, and this was new to her.

"You've been talking to Piper and Phoebe" Paige finished.

"Yeah" Prue confirmed.

"That was a while ago, 15 years ago to be precise" Paige pointed out.

Prue couldn't help but laugh; Paige was more like her than either of them would admit.

"What's so funny?" Paige asked as Phoebe walked into the kitchen.

"How you guys getting on," Phoebe exclaimed optimistically.

"I have a headache, but I'm fine" Paige answered.

"How long you had the headache" Phoebe asked in an edgy voice.

"Ever since i met Billie" Paige informed her sisters.

"Mom, tell Nathan he can't watch Toy Story" Lacey said running into the kitchen.  
"Nathan, Lacey wants to watch Toy Story with you" Rebecca shouted as she entered the kitchen behind Lacey.

"Hey Mom" She added "Don't let Dad see you, that would be hard to explain"

"I DON'T WANNA WATCH TOY STORY, WHY DOES NOBODY LISTEN TO ME?" Lacey yelled at the top of her voice.

"Probably because you yell at them," Prue guessed.

"You ain't my mother, who are you?"Lacey snapped.

"Lacey she's your aunt" Phoebe giggled.

Lacey looked up at Paige for confirmation but Paige wasn't looking at her, she was looking at Cole who was now making a break for the back door. 


	14. Chapter 14: Trouble rears it's ugly head

Chapter 14 

"You know that doors locked, right?" Phoebe asked, following Paige's glare.

Cole turned around to see her dangling the key between her thumb and finger.  
"I'm not gonna..."Cole began.

"What did Piper say about you speaking in this house" Prue reminded him.  
Cole glared at Prue but didn't reply.

"Mom, is it true?" Lacey was persisting.

"What?" Paige asked, having missed most of the previous conversation.

"Is it true that she's my aunt?"Lacey asked pointing at Prue.

"Er, kinda, I guess so, yeah" Paige answered.

"Will she keep Dad away?" Lacey questioned.

"Er, I'm not sure" Paige replied.

"Mommy, are you ok?" Lacey asked.

"Yeah, Yeah I'm fine sweetie," Paige answered.

"Good, cos the cop came back," Lacey giggled.

"What? When?" Now was Paige's time to interrogate.

"Earlier, you were all in here and Kay came out of here and the doorbell rang, and it was the cop" Lacey explained.

"Stop referring to Henry as the cop" Paige told her daughter.

"But he is a cop, and he was here cos he's a cop today, he said, there's been a disturbance in town and Amber was there, he wanted to see her, Kay said she didn't have the 'AUTHORITY TO PERMIT IT' "Lacey said imitating Kayleigh's voice.

"Amber's in trouble with the SFPD?" Phoebe asked.

"How should I know, I'm not a mind reader" Lacey replied skipping out of the room.

Both Prue's and Paige's eyes followed Lacey out of the room.

"She seems like a good kid" Prue smiled.

"She is" Paige answered. "I'm just hoping her father doesn't undo it, he's already tried"

"What do you mean Paige?" Phoebe asked.

"Didn't Piper tell you, there was this massive fight, he hit Lacey, and Lizzie said he hit Nathan too," Paige answered.

"Really?" Phoebe questioned.

"I was there," Rebecca pointed out. "Still here too by the way.

"We know your still there Bex, we could never doubt your presence" Prue assured her still-living child.

"Hey Mom, I know it's not the time but why did Aunt Piper get custody of me when you died instead of Dad?" Rebecca asked.

"Your right it's not the time" Prue told her daughter.

Paige smirked; Bex was always full of questions.

"Mom, who conjured you?" The teen asked.  
Prue looked up at Paige, Rebecca followed her mother's eyes.  
"You conjured her?" Rebecca looked for assurance.

"Not that I know of" Paige answered.  
"Your unconscious did" Prue explained.

"So why did your unconscious wanna see Mom?" Rebecca asked her aunt.  
Paige didn't know how to answer that, how could she answer when she didn't know why herself.


	15. Chapter 15: In the wrong year

Chapter 15 

"Well?" Rebecca asked curiously.

"I didn't know I did, I don't know why" Came Paige's answer.

"Weird, maybe you subconsciously know we were gonna need her" Rebecca suggested.

"Bex did you just say subconsciously?" Prue asked.

"Yeah, dad's the idiot, not me" Rebecca answered her mother cheekily.

"He's not and idiot Bex" Prue replied. "Anyway we should really start this potion."

"It won't work" Paige pointed out.

"Why not?" Prue asked, semi-annoyed at her sister undermining her.

"We vanquished Cole in the past, he was immortal in the year 2003, he'll be immortal in this year, it's an impossible vanquish in this time" Phoebe explained.

"I'm here you know" Cole stated, annoyed that they were speaking about him as if he wasn't there.

"So we're in the wrong year, we'll have to work round that" Prue said.

"Leo's taken Wyatt, Chris and Melinda up there so we can work" Piper announced re-entering the kitchen.

Piper smiled as she looked at her 3 sisters, together in the kitchen, she had longed for this moment for years, imagined it all the time, and now it had finally come, it wasn't perfect, it was more awkward than she had wanted and in a perfect world Cole would certainly not be there, but it was better than nothing.

"Piper what are you looking at?" Paige asked, noticing Piper's smile.

"Nothing, I'm just happy" Piper answered.

"Ok, that's good, but can't you be happy after we get rid of Cole?" Phoebe asked adding an "Again" after thinking about the repeated vanquishes.

"Once again, I'M STILL HERE" Cole huffed.

"You won't be for long," Phoebe answered.

"Ok I know this is kinda off topic which is weird because when I heard it I thought it would be the main title of topic but, Phoebe do you want me to call Henry and see what Amber's meant to have done?" Paige asked.

"That would be great" Phoebe answered.

Paige nodded and went to walk out the room.

"Bex, you should come too, this vanquish can be dangerous and we don't want you to get hurt" Paige said to the impressionable teenager.

Prue smiled and Paige's protectiveness of her youngest daughter. Her family would be ok when it was time for her to go again, her sisters would make sure of that. She felt pride course through her veins at the thought of these people being her family, and just for a second wished she wouldn't have to leave after this.

Short I know but I got to do my English coursework, yes I know, what a horrible way to spend the last week of your holiday.


	16. Chapter 16: Billie's help

**Sorry it took me so long to update, I'm back at school now and I've been busy with my HSM Fic. I'm gonna try and update this more now, hopefully at the same pace as the HSM one which is one or two a day. This whole update is gonna be with Paige.**

* * *

"Damn" Paige muttered as the latest potion hit a protective barrier that seemed to have formed around Cole.

They had been trying to vanquish him for a week now, ever since Amber had brought him back. Prue had been repeatedly 'dropping by' as well, adding to her frustration, Prue was trying to be a sister and Paige had always wanted to meet her, but now she was here Paige still felt something was missing.

"That one didn't work either?" Phoebe asked entering the attic, they had moved up there after a close call with a neighbour.

"I don't get how I can get past the barrier and orb him up here, but these potions can't get past" Paige told her.

"Your orbing wasn't intended to kill him," Prue answered, following Phoebe.

Paige secretly rolled her eyes; she was annoyed with being constantly corrected.

She suddenly heard that all too familiar tingling sound.

"Gotta go, watch Lacey and Nathan for me," She said, orbing out without explaining.

"Hey Billie" She sighed, orbing into the teen's college dorm room.

"About time" Billie huffed.

"Whoa, what happened to this place?" Paige asked.

"Some demon, I don't know what demon, it's not on the net," Billie answered.

"Your still using the net to ID demons, Billie what did we say?" Paige mentioned.

"You told me you'd prefer it if I didn't you didn't say I couldn't" Billie defensively answered.

"Yes we said we'd prefer, which is code for don't, what happened to this demon?" Paige quickly changed the subject.

"Luckily for you, your niece is a quick study, Amber had come to see me, she seemed to know what to do" Billie explained.

Paige thought about what Billie had said, since when did she talk to Amber, wait, how did Amber know what to do, wait, Amber had known what to do, Amber could know now.

"I have to talk to Amber," Paige announced before orbing out.

"Right" Billie said, more to herself than anyone.

* * *

**Yes I know another short update; you know what inspires long updates?**

**Yes you got it REVIEWS.**


	17. Chapter 17: Figured it out?

**I realised there may be some confusion over Billie's age as this is set in the future, no one has mentioned this to me I just spotted it when I read through it. In this story they have only known Billie a year, she is in her second year of college, I decided to keep her younger in this as when I started writing it she wasn't even in the series and it's easier to write about younger people and characters you have become accustomed to.**

* * *

_Recap _

_"I have to talk to Amber," Paige announced before orbing out._

_"Right" Billie said, more to herself than anyone._

_End Recap_

* * *

"Hey" Paige greeted Prue and Phoebe when she orbed into the attic. "Where's Amber?"

"Amber's downstairs, Kayleigh's watching her" Phoebe told her. "Why?"

"Billie said something that made me think something else and now I need to talk to Amber" Paige rushed, leaving the room and heading downstairs.

"Whoa, where you going in such a hurry?" Piper asked as Paige almost ran into her on the stairs.

"Talk… Amber…Billie…Demon…Help" Paige gasped; she'd worn herself out running.

"I'm guessing that means you need to talk to Amber because Billie found a Demon and asked for it's help" Piper said.

Paige shook her head, and regained control of her breathing before explaining, "Billie fought a demon and Amber was there and apparently knew what to do, and now I need to talk to Amber because it made me think of something"

"Oh, right, Is Billie OK? Why was Amber at Billie's? What are they up to?" Piper questioned.

"Yes, don't know, don't know" Paige replied.

"What?" Piper asked.

"Answering your questions" Paige said rushing past her.

"Hi Aunt Paige" Amber said as she entered the room.

"Kay can you go find out what Lacey and Nathan are doing?" Paige asked.

"But…" Kayleigh began.

"Kayleigh" Paige warned.

The girl stood up and left the room quickly.

"Amber, I just saw Billie, she said you were there and that there was a demon attack" Paige told her niece.

"Yeh" Amber confirmed.

"Well, I was wondering, how did you know what to do?" Paige asked.

"Using the powers I inherited from my dad I can get rid of any demon" Amber answered, as if it was clearly simple.

Amber had got used to Cole being around now, Kayleigh had been less accepting.

_Flashback _

_"She did what?" Kayleigh screamed._

_"Calm down Kay" Phoebe tried._

_"Calm down, Calm down, she resurrected a demon," Kayleigh continued._

_"I resurrected our father" Amber shouted._

_"He's not my father" Kayleigh yelled in reply. "He may be yours but he's not mine"_

_End Flashback_

"Amber, I may need to ask you to do something if we can't figure out another way, you might not like it though," Paige explained.

She was hoping against hope that they would find another way, she couldn't really ask Amber to vanquish her father using her own demonic powers, but that could be the problem, they'd thought of everything else, they had to be able to penetrate the barrier with demonic powers.


	18. Chapter 18: The only Way

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've been getting into Can you forgive? (Sequel to my HSM story, heartbreak), hopefully I'll be able to update them both today but seeing as I haven't updated this one in a while it takes priority right now.**

* * *

_Recap _

_She was hoping against hope that they would find another way, she couldn't really ask Amber to vanquish her father using her own demonic powers, but that could be the problem, they'd thought of everything else, they had to be able to penetrate the barrier with demonic powers._

_End Recap_

* * *

"All right Paige, spill, you said you had a way, that is the 53rd thing we've tried, you need to tell us" Piper demanded.

"But it's potentially risky and there's no way Phoebe will go for it" Paige argued.

"Why would I be against it?" Phoebe asked from the book of shadows.

"She wants Amber to vanquish Cole" Kayleigh told them as she walked into the room.

"How long have you been there?" Piper asked in unison with Phoebe's "WHAT?"

"Not long" Kayleigh answered Piper's question and looked towards her mother.

"How did you know that?" She heard Paige ask.

"When you told me to leave the room cos you needed to talk to Amber, I was standing outside the door listening" Kayleigh replied.

"You've asked Amber about this?" Phoebe questioned, obviously furious.

"I told her we might need her to do something she might not like, that's it, that's all she knows, but think about it, good can't vanquish him, we've tried that, but maybe evil can" Paige explained.

"Amber's not evil" Phoebe defended.

"No matter how you look at it Phoebe, that kid is half evil, both of them are" Prue spoke for the first time since the conversation began.

Paige was the only one that noticed the look at Kayleigh gave Prue; it was obvious the girl disliked her aunt; nobody had called her evil before.

"Kayleigh's not evil, she represses her demonic powers, and Amber would if she was stronger than she is, being weak-willed doesn't make her evil" Paige argued.

Prue studied her for a minute, she admired her youngest sister's strength, the pair were more similar than either would admit.

"They'll always have that evil streak, it's in their genes" Prue reworded.

"Your wrong" Paige stated, "Kayleigh chose to be good, Amber hasn't decided, they have a choice"

"And Cole being here is jeopardising that" Piper spoke, halting the fight before it really started.

"I don't want my kid put in that position," Phoebe told her sisters.

"Mom, we might not have a choice," Kayleigh said, she turned to Paige and said, "If she won't, I will"

"There's got to be another way" Phoebe spoke, knowing it was hopeless.

"I don't think there is" Paige admitted sympathetically, "He has to go, Amber may be the only way"


	19. Chapter 19: Escape

**Wow, it's been too long, way too long, I haven't updated since September, which is bad, seeing as it's now near the end of Apr**

**Wow, it's been too long, way too long, I haven't updated since September, which is bad, seeing as it's now near the end of April, I've been concentrating on my other stories way too much, but along with watching The Tribe more, I've been watching charmed a lot more, and one of my other stories is getting no where, so I've decided that while I put my main story on hiatus until May and try to concentrate on the one I'm finding really hard to write, that this story will take up the writing slots for them, and if I plan it right, for the rest of the month I'll only have two stories to update.**

**Ok, I've left this long enough….**

* * *

Cole looked up as a young girl approached him, an even younger boy at her side, both grinning from ear to ear as they watched him curiously.

"Boo" he snapped in a shout, attempting to scare them off, but only seeing momentary fear in the boy's eyes, the girl began to laugh at his stupidity, thinking it was some kind of game.

"Are you a demon?" the girl giggled, "Wyatt said you were,"

"I know Wyatt," the boy put in, earning a strange look from the girl.

"Idiot kids," Cole muttered under his breath.

"I heard that," the girl pointed out, smirking victoriously, "and I think you are a demon, and Wyatt's right,"

"What is Wyatt now, five?" Cole suggested.

"He's thirteen, stupid," the girl argued, "and Chris is eleven now,"

"Right," Cole answered, beginning to wonder whether this girl was the key to him getting out, "and what's your name?"

"I'm Melinda Prudence Halliwell-Wyatt," she announced proudly, "my mommy named me after my auntie and my great-great-great-great-great-great, well I forget how many it is, but she was related to me,"

"Well, Melinda Prudence Halliwell-Wyatt," he coaxed, "what would you say is the best way to get out of here? I haven't dropped by in a few years,"

"When Wyatt wants to go out and mommy won't let him, he goes out of the windows," Melinda relents unknowingly, "but if you're a demon, why don't you just shimmer out, that's what they all do, except when they blink,"

"I already tried shimmering," he explained, still trying to keep her suspicions low, "I think your mommy and your aunties may have done something to the house so I can't get out that way,"

"MOMMY," they both turned as they heard a shout from the doorway, "MOMMY, QUICKLY,"

"Lacey, the demon's nice," Melinda, exclaimed to her cousin as running footsteps were heard.

Cole took the opportunity that fate had given him as all three children were distracted by eachother, and decided to try and took Melinda's advice, he launched himself at the window, hearing it smash as he realised his way out had been staring him in the face the whole time. He was alive, he was free, and it was all thanks to one of the charmed children.

**- - - - - - - -**

Paige sensed the presences of her three half-sisters, following her down the stairs to answer the call of her daughter, slightly resenting the fact that they had decided to follow her.

"Lacey?" she asked, feeling panic rise as she saw her at the entrance to the kitchen, "Lacey get away from there,"

"He's gone," Lacey stated, turning to face her mother, "it was all Melinda's fault,"

"Melinda's with Leo and the elders," Piper commented unsurely, "isn't she?"

Lacey disappeared into the kitchen for mere seconds, reappearing with a guilty looking Melinda.

"It was boring up there," Melinda defended, "so I orbed back home when daddy wasn't looking,"

"Melinda, that was very, very bad," Piper scolded before walking past her to the kitchen door, turning back to her sisters to tell them that Lacey had been telling the truth, "he's gone,"

"Window," they all heard Joshua exclaim as he ran over to his aunt, "Window went smash,"

"That's right," Phoebe told him as she walked over and saw the broken glass in the windowpane, "Window went smash,"

"And now Amber's demon has escaped," Prue commented.

"He is not Amber's demon," Phoebe snapped, suddenly defensive over her daughter, "she's had nothing to do with him in her life, she knew about him, what right did I have to keep it from her, or from Kayleigh, he's their father, that doesn't mean that he's they're problem, he's our problem, not theirs, they're just kids,"

"They're not just kids," Prue decided, "they're witches, they're half-demons,"

"You don't know them," Phoebe argued, "they're not evil, they're my children, they're family, our family are good, they always have been, we have to make sure they are guided right, you can't just decided they're evil, you weren't here,"

"And that's my fault?" Prue continued, "I died, it happens, I would have been there if Shax hadn't got the better of me, if that hadn't of happened, things would have been a lot different, I know, I would have raised my own daughters, I would have known your kids, I would have helped keep them from going evil…"

"We'd never have met Paige," Piper pointed out, glancing at the youngest of her sisters, "everything happens for a reason, finding her was one of the best things that happened to us, if you hadn't have died, I wouldn't have been trying to get you back, and we'd never have found her, we probably wouldn't even know about her now,"

"I shouldn't have orbed Cole back down here," Paige tried to change the subject, "how could we not have guessed that he'd try the window?"

"That wasn't your fault, we all agreed," Phoebe answered, "he kept attacking the book, and that belongs up there,"

"The book's protected, he was barely denting it," Paige sighed, "we should have kept him up there,"

"We couldn't risk the book," Piper recalled, "the fact was he did damage it, even if it was just a tiny bit, we couldn't let him destroy it,"

"It's too late to go over all this now," Prue sighed, "I'm gonna go check in with mom and grams, see if they have any new ideas,"

The others nodded as she disappeared and turned to the three children still in the room, two of whom had been listening intently to the conversation.

"Melinda, you are going to apologise to your father for this," Piper told her child, "you know how much it scares him when you do things like this,"

The eight-year-old nodded, not really wanting to go against her mother's wishes, and orbed to where she knew her father was.

"I'm gonna get Dex to take Josh somewhere," Phoebe stated, picking up the four-year-old and carrying him out of the room.

"I'm hanging with Lizzie," Lacey explained, "she decided to teach me mortal defence methods, so I only have to use magic when I really have to,"

Piper smiled momentarily at her eldest niece's initiative, knowing that martial arts were one way to help limit magic use.

The smile faded as she glanced at Paige, "guess we have to find Cole then,"

* * *

**I know it's short, but I wanted to get it up, it's been too long.**

**I don't like this chapter that much, but re-writing it would take longer and if I don't get it up now it'll put me off writing more, I only like being ahead in my HSM stories.**

**Review!**


	20. Chapter 20: Sudden Situation

**I've actually noticed that the first fifteen or so chapters were terrible, I wrote them when I was thirteen, then completely forgot the story existed, so basically, it was written by an immature thirteen year old pretty much three years ago, and then the same person three years later, which is why it's kinda changed half way through.**

* * *

**On a weirder note, my mother is waxing lyrical about my shoes!**

* * *

Lizzie swung open the door, staring impatiently at the person on the other side of it.

"Yeah?" she asked quickly.

"Is Phoebe here?" The man questioned, "it's important,"

"No idea," Lizzie answered, "could be, could not be, what'd you want with her?"

"It's about her daughter," he explained, "I came by earlier, I was told she wasn't in,"

"She's busy," Lizzie spoke in an informative tone, "you can talk to me about her daughter if it's sooo important,"

"I have to speak directly to Phoebe," he told her, "could you get her?"

"AUNT PHOEBE," she shouted, "THE COP WANTS TO TALK TO YOU,"

"Parole officer," He corrected, "I don't arrest people, I keep them in line when they get out of jail,"

"Same thing," Lizzie claimed, "what does it matter anyway,"

"I can take it from here Lizzie," Phoebe chimed in as she walked down the stairs, obviously on edge as she moved, "Henry, what's Amber meant to have done?"

"There was an incident in Chinatown earlier today, Amber was caught on CCTV running away from the scene," he explained.

"How does it involve you?" Lizzie piped up again, "what were you doing looking at CCTV of some incident in Chinatown if you're a parole officer?"

"Lizzie, I can handle this," Phoebe insisted, gesturing for her niece to go upstairs before turning back to Henry and gesturing again, this time towards the direction Lizzie had gone, "what she said,"

"Your daughter was seen running off with a parolee of mine," Henry explained, "Jacob Thomas, recently released from jail,"

"Amber wouldn't get involved in anything stupid," Phoebe defended, "how bad is this guy?"

"I probably shouldn't tell you this, but as Amber's still a minor and I need parental consent to talk to her about her relationship with Thomas, I will," Henry began, "He's twenty, fourteen months ago he was sent to prison for repetitive burglary and possession of a firearm without a licence, he was released early three weeks ago for good behaviour on the usual conditions of all my parolee's, from what I've seen over the past weeks, he hasn't reformed, your daughter's been messing with the wrong crowds,"

"Is she in any trouble?" Phoebe quizzed, "I can talk to her about this guy, but it's not illegal to talk to an ex-con,"

"But it is illegal to assist them in their crimes," Henry pointed out, "she was running away from a crime scene with the suspect, that doesn't look good on her, and Thomas is missing, has been since it happened, I've been given one chance to figure out what she knows about the guy, if I don't get her side of the story, then the detective working the case will, so, can I talk to Amber or not?"

"She's out," Phoebe informed him, turning as she noticed a movement on the stairs, "She went out with a friend, Billie, about an hour ago, Kayleigh too,"

"Where?" He questioned quickly, making Phoebe turn back to him.

"Some museum or something, Billie wanted to teach them something," she replied just as fast, clearly growing impatient as she glanced back up at the stairs.

"Who's up there?" Henry asked suspiciously, clearly suggesting that he thought she was looking up at Amber.

"Lizzie," Phoebe rushed, "and Lacey, my nieces, they're up there, something to do with self-defence, I try not to get involved,"

Henry nodded disbelievingly as Phoebe continued to block the door, hesitantly glancing back up.

"I really have to go sort something," she explained, "Paige, she told me to talk to Lacey about something, because I'm better at the whole talking thing, I should really go talk to her, it's important,"

"The best thing you could do for your daughter right now is get her to talk to me," Henry warned, "Thomas could be dangerous, I need to know what she knows,"

"You don't know that she knows anything," Phoebe pointed out, glancing back upstairs as there was a loud crash and a scream, "I really have to go,"

"Give me a call when she gets home," Henry told her, "Paige has my number,"

"Right," Phoebe replied, "I'll get that, off of her, bye,"

She quickly closed the door as she spun around on her heel, sprinting upstairs at the first opportunity.

"AUNT PHOEBE," Lizzie yelled from the bedroom she shared with her sister.

She swung open the door, noticing Lacey's unconscious form lying on the floor near the middle of the room.

"What happened?" Phoebe questioned frantically, rushing towards her young niece, "What did this?"

"One of the Krypton's that you and Aunt Piper were hunting down last week," Lizzie rushed, "she didn't have time to orb, I tried to intercept but I was too late,"

"LEO," Phoebe shouted as she checked for Lacey's pulse, "she's alive, but barely,"

Lizzie nodded as a swirl of orbs appeared in the corner of the room.

"Dad has to watch Melinda," Wyatt explained as he looked over at Lizzie, then glanced to Phoebe as she stroked Lacey's hair back, "What happened?"

"Wyatt, please," Phoebe spoke, "get your dad, he has to heal her,"

"I can do it," Wyatt insisted, kneeling opposite his aunt and placing his hands directly over his cousin, "I've done it before,"

Lizzie jumped at the sound of the front door opening, and nervously glanced down the hall at the stairs as Piper's voice ran clear through the house, "HELLO, WE'RE BACK, NO SIGN OF HIM, WHERE IS EVERYBODY?"

The sound of her voice was followed by footsteps as she made her way up the stairs.

"Wyatt, hurry," Lizzie demanded, "They'll kill me,"

"You think this is about you?" Phoebe asked harshly, "your cousin is trying to save her life, which is more than you did,"

"What's going..." Piper began as she entered the room, stopping as she noticed Wyatt attempting to heal Lacey, "Paige is downstairs, she should know what's going on,"

"It's working," Wyatt suddenly called, making the three of them turn to him as his hands began to glow, "Mom, it's working,"

"That's great," Piper told him as she turned towards Phoebe, "How could you let this happen?"

"Lizzie was watching her," Phoebe defended, "Henry was at the door and Lizzie was meant to be watching her, I heard her scream from downstairs,"

"I was watching her," Lizzie argued, "It happened to fast for me to stop it, the Krypton just attacked, I wasn't expecting it, it wasn't my fault,"

They all looked over at Wyatt and Lacey as the nine-year-old coughed and her eyes slowly flickered open.

"Wyatt," Piper began, "go back to your father, take Lacey with you,"

Wyatt nodded and orbed out with his younger cousin as Phoebe looked up at Piper, "What do we tell Paige?"

"Nothing," Lizzie stated, "she doesn't have to know, everything's ok,"

"Of course she has to know," Piper shot back, "Lacey's her daughter, you really think she won't find out? You're telling her Lizzie,"

"Why?" Lizzie tried, "we can keep Lacey quiet..."

"You want us to get Lacey to lie to her mother?" Piper asked, "we've always taught you never to lie to us, I won't make her do that,"

"Why can't Aunt Phoebe tell her?" Lizzie questioned, "she was here too,"

"She wasn't there when the demons attacked though, now go," Piper explained, motioning for Lizzie to leave the room.

"She's going to kill us," Phoebe sighed, standing up next to her sister, "she told us not to go after the Krypton's without her and we did,"

"We didn't know they'd attack here," Piper pointed out, "And the elders said they were becoming a threat, we had to do something, we couldn't all go, someone had to watch Cole,"

"Paige won't see it like that," Phoebe decided, "not when it comes to Lacey, she'll blame us for this because we went after them first,"

"She'll come around," Piper told her younger sister, "she knows we didn't have a choice,"

"I'm not so sure," Phoebe admitted, "should we get a third opinion?"

"From who?" Piper asked her, "Mom?"

"I was thinking Prue," Phoebe explained, "she was always the one that was the major demon hunter when she was alive, she can help Paige understand why we had to go after them, she can talk her round,"

"Paige doesn't know Prue," Piper queried, " not well enough, why would she listen to her?"

"They are half-sisters," Phoebe continued, "they're more alike than they think, Paige needs someone that understands her, they need eachother, perhaps more than we need them, Paige always has felt like an outsider because we have this bond that we don't have with her, Prue can help us get through to her, and help her feel more involved in the family,"

"Phoebe, it's been over fifteen years, I think she's gotten over her insecurities now," Piper answered, "she wasn't that insecure in the first place,"

"That's not what Becca said," Phoebe blurted out.

"Paige talks to Becca?" Piper questioned, "since when?"

"For years now," Phoebe replied, "Paige talks to Becca because she doesn't feel she can talk to us, at least, that's what Becca gets from their chats, she's still insecure, she's just better at hiding it,"

"Maybe I should talk to her," Piper mused, " we need her to talk to us, not just Becca,"

"If you confront her you can make it worse, especially when she's stressed out about Cole being on the loose again," Phoebe pointed out, "She won't expect the sisterly concern from Prue, and besides, even if that doesn't work, she'll still talk to Becca, and Becca tells me everything that she thinks we should know,"

"So we call Prue?" Piper quizzed somewhat sceptically, "we get Prue, the one of us that hardly knows her, to talk her problems away,"

"Yeah," Phoebe confirmed, "Sometimes it's better for people to talk to those they barely know about their problems, they feel like there is less chance of judgement, we have to give Prue a chance,"

"A chance to do what?" Asked a voice from behind them, making them quickly turn to the door, "you think she can settle the Cole thing?"

"Yes, maybe," Piper quickly covered, surveying her younger half-sister, "she's older, wiser..."

"Dead," Phoebe put in, earning herself a glare, "she has inside information from up there,"

Paige nodded as Phoebe looked up on her last words before speaking, "Where's Lacey?"

"With Leo and the kids," Piper explained, " Lizzie told you what happened?"

"Yes," Paige told them, "I told you not to go last week,"

"We had to," Phoebe defended, "They were a threat, you heard what the elders said, thanks to us, there's so few of them left that they're not a threat,"

"Since when did we answer to the elders?" Paige asked, "I still don't and you never used to,"

"Since they made Leo a whitelighter again," Piper remarked, "We said we'd listen to them, we all agreed,"

"Noo," Paige replied, "You two agreed, the rest of us just sat there watching, and I don't want Lacey and Nath listening to them, the only good thing they've ever done for me was sending me to Billie, and even that was bad for a time,"

"Yeah, you have a point, but they didn't exactly, send you to her," Phoebe reasoned, "The connection was just there, they couldn't do anything about it, they probably didn't even know about it,"

"It doesn't matter," Paige claimed, "What matters is that they sent you after a bunch of demons that you never had a chance of completely defeating without me, that ended up almost killing my daughter, and on top of all of that, the Krypton's can multiply and in a few years, they'll be back, and that's overlooking the little fact of the demon that Amber resurrected."

"She apologised for that," Phoebe defended, "It's not as if she knew how bad he was, I didn't give her all the facts, and it got to a point where she wouldn't have believed me if I did,"

"Guys, we have bigger problems than this," Piper pointed out, "First we need to find Cole, then get rid of the Krypton's for good,"

"And sort out Amber's brush with the law," Phoebe added, turning to Paige, "I need Henry's number,"

Paige nodded, deciding not to ask why her sister required the number "demonic threats first, though,"

"Ok," phoebe agreed, "So how do we find Cole?"

"With Amber," stated a new voice, making the three turn to the door once again.

* * *

**Still too short if you ask me, but I don't see how I can make it longer without changing the ending.**

**I'm going to try and update more, which means i'm hoping to wrap at least one of my other stories within a month to give myself time to write more.**

**Anyways, review!**


	21. Chapter 21: Sisterly Chat

**Wow, sorry I haven't updated in over a year, yes, it's been that long, i've been updating my other stories and this one kind of got forgotten, but now, one of them has finished and another is almost finished so there is a chance that I'll be able to update more.**

**I know it's short, but I like where i've ended it, I tried to continue it but it didn't feel right.**

* * *

"Becca," Piper sighed, watching the teenager, whom rolled her eyes at her aunt's tone, "We don't want Amber involved in this anymore,"

"She caused it," Rebecca pointed out, "She should fix it herself,"

"She's a child," Phoebe argued, "she had no idea what she was doing, you know that,"

Rebecca rolled her eyes again and turned, heading back downstairs.

Paige frowned at her sisters "Call Prue, you obviously think she can help, I'm going to check on Lacey,"

Piper frowned as Paige quickly orbed out, before glancing at Phoebe, "Time to summon Prue?"

Phoebe nodded, heading towards the back of the attic to begin.

- - - -

Melinda smiled to herself as she crept up to the attic. It hadn't been easy to give her dad the slip, and her brothers had been even harder to escape, but she'd done it, and now she was home, right in the middle of whatever was going on that was making her mother keep her away.

She continued moving forward, careful to stay in the shadow of the dark stairwell.

The door was ajar, another stroke of luck. She crept up to it, peeking through as soon as she was close enough. It was deserted despite the candles laid out in the centre, the book of shadows laying between them. She opened the door a little more and slipped into the room, closing it lightly behind her.

She slowly moved across the floor, sure to avoid the floorboards she knew would increase the amount of sound she made, approaching the book.

She knelt down in front of it, unsurprised to see the page it was on, they'd been a lot of spirit summoning recently.

She began leafing through the pages, not sure exactly what she was looking for, more searching for something that could possibly be interesting to try.

A cough startled her as she was about to turn to the last page, making her turn, throwing her hands up in front of her.

"Melinda," the woman frowned disapprovingly, "you can't freeze the dead,"

"Did mommy summon you?" Melinda frowned as she regarded her aunt, "Is it really bad?"

"Aren't you meant to be with your dad and brothers?" Prue asked, ignoring the eight year old's questions and supplying her own, "They'll be worried,"

"I want to help." Melinda stated defiantly, "No one ever lets me help, but I can, I have powers too, but no one lets me use them,"

"It's not safe, Melinda," Prue reasoned, "Your mom doesn't want you and your brothers involved."

"Lizzie's allowed to fight," Melinda complained, "No one says she's not allowed, and I have more powers than her!"

"Melinda Halliwell-Wyatt," Prue scolded, finally approaching the child, reaching for her and pulling her to her feet, "You will not fight, you are a child, no matter how much you try to ignore that fact,"

"It's not fair!" she exclaimed, quiet enough as to not let her mother hear her, "why'd they have to summon you anyway?"

"I've got nothing to lose by helping them Melinda," Prue pointed out, looking down at the child sternly, "Like I said, I'm dead, it's not as if I can die, you can die, where would that leave your mom, do you have any idea how upset everyone would be if you got hurt?"

"Lacey got hurt," Melinda shot back, "If you'd of made her go too..."

"Don't argue with me, Melinda," The older woman insisted, "Dead or not, I'm still your aunt, some level of respect is required, you are not staying here, not while there is danger, neither are any of the other kids, we can't stop Lizzie, Becca and Kayleigh, but we're stopping you, go back to your father."

Melinda opened her mouth to reply when the attic door opened, the figure stopping dead in the doorway when she saw them.

"Hi Aunt Paige," Melinda chirped, smiling at the distraction as she tried to make herself look innocent.

"Phoebe told me to get candles," Paige stuttered, eyeing her eldest half-sister warily, in the many years it had been since she'd found out about them, she'd never once had a conversation with the eldest one.

"Why didn't you orb?"

"I don't always have to orb, Mel, sometimes it's good to walk," Paige frowned after she spoke, "Go back to your father,"

Melinda sighed reluctantly, "Ok,"

She left the room the way she had came, not intending to return to her father as she had promised, knowing that neither one of her aunts would question her.

"Paige?" Prue started, slightly amused at her younger sister's avoidance technique as the latter began picking up various candles, "Can you just stop for a sec?"

The younger woman's movements halted but she didn't turn to address her sister.

"I know that you feel like you don't know me Paige," Prue continued, sensing that her sibling was unlikely to give any form of response, "but I am your sister, and I want you to know me, ok so I can't be round much for obvious reasons, but that doesn't mean you can't summon me if you ever need to, even if you just feel like talking,"

"Thanks, but I'm fine," Paige finally answered, busying herself with the candles again.

"They don't want you to be like me," Prue spoke up, "They've never wanted anything but for you to be yourself,"

Paige frowned, but didn't speak.

"If it means anything," Prue tried, "I think you were right to follow your instincts when you tried to help Cole all those years back, you didn't know that Barbas was after his powers, I'd have done the same thing. Don't get me wrong, I hate the guy, but he's better off without powers than with,"

"It's just..." Paige paused, realising what she was doing before continuing her task of collecting candles, "Never mind,"

"You're always so closed," Prue noted, "Growing up with Piper and Phoebe I learnt how to read them, I can't do that with you, you're gonna need to give me a little help her,"

"They're so close," Paige decided to talk, "If Piper needs help, she calls Phoebe and vice versa, I just feel like ever since I moved out we've grown apart, like they don't really need me anymore, they can leave most of the demons to Lizzie and Kayleigh and just act like normal sisters, and I just feel like I'm going to lose them somewhere down the line,"

"That is never going to happen," Prue insisted, unsure as to whether or not she should try and hug her youngest sister, "They love you, you're our sister, nothing will ever change that, they do need you, they need you for all the little things that they take for granted, like taking care of the kids, they need you because losing you would hurt them so much,"

"You know that for sure?" Paige queried, "You can honestly say that if my kids and I just disappeared they'd miss us? That if you hadn't died and you'd found out about me anyway you'd have wanted me around."

"I would have," Prue insisted, "If I'd have known about you, I would have wanted you around, you're my sister, nothing can change that. Piper and Phoebe, especially Phoebe, they'd be lost without you, you underestimate just how much they care about you, Phoebe sees so much of herself in you, and i've never seen Piper so protective over anyone other than her kids, when you moved out she summoned me you know, went on and on about how you weren't ready, how you needed to be closer to her, she wouldn't admit the truth, that she simply didn't want you to go, I've watched her some nights after demon attacks, she doesn't sleep, she worries, worries that there'll be a revenge attack on you or Phoebe and she won't be there. Leo constantly has to talk her out of calling you at three in the morning. It's not just Phoebe she cares about."

"They still have this bond that I don't understand,"

"They grew up together, Paige," Prue sighed, "There's always going to be those years you missed out on giving their relationship a boost, it doesn't mean they care about you any less, they're worried about you."

Paige frowned, "Which one of them got you to do this?"

"Phoebe may have said something," Prue bit her lip, clearly uncomfortable with admitting that, but more uncomfortable with the idea of lying to her sister, "I'd have done it anyway though,"

"If Phoebe's so worried then why didn't she come and talk to me herself," Paige responded, struggling to pick up a few more candles.

"Come on, Paige," Prue answered, "when was the last time you willingly told her how you felt? You aren't really the easiest person to get to open up,"

"Does she even need these candles?" Paige asked, obviously annoyed, "or was this just some ploy to get me up here?" The look on Prue's face told her the answer and she automatically dropped the candles, "Great,"

Without another word the younger sister orbed out of the room, leaving the elder woman frowning.

- - - -

"How did it go?" Phoebe asked as her elder sister appeared in the kitchen, "is she mad?"

"As well as can be expected," Prue answered, "you should add thyme to that,"

"You didn't answer both of my questions,"

"She'll calm down," Prue sighed, "she didn't take it well, but before she figured out what was going on she suggested that she was jealous of the bond that you and Piper share, she feels that if she left, it wouldn't have much of an effect on you,"

"That's ridiculous!" Phoebe exclaimed, "How can she think that? That's not true,"

"I know that," Prue pointed out, "the important thing is that she doesn't, and she needs convincing fast, you need her to vanquish Cole again,"

"Piper and I will get right on it," Phoebe gave a small smile, "maybe you should too, after all, you are her sister as well,"

"She doesn't know me, Phoebe," Prue explained, "I hope that one day she will but right now you and Piper will be more than enough for her to deal with, and I have to go back anyway, you know what to do if you need me,"

With that, Prue disappeared, causing Phoebe to feel a wave of sadness wash over her, when her elder sister was with them, she could almost pretend that she'd never died.

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**Sorry it took so long, hopefully it won't next time, review!**


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